Why CEOs Don't Buy Enterprise Architecture

DiamondCluster International, Inc. is 500-professional management consulting firm based in Chicago with one foot firmly planted in the world of strategy and the other in IT. David Baker is the firm’s chief architect and a knowledge leader in enterprise architecture (EA). Michael Janiszewski is a consultant with experience in technology-related strategy and EA. Together they wrote an article for Enterprise Architecture (6/8/05), entitled the “7 Essential Elements of EA.”

EA is not something you do first and sell to the CEO second.

I highly recommend the article to anyone looking for an overview on how to make EA work. One reason I like it is the way it’s written. I always like the structure: “The 10 keys to this . . .” or “The 5 steps to that . . . “ It’s an effective and easy way to organize thoughts, tell the reader were you’re headed, and make the topic relevant. If you ever have writer’s block when asked to write an article for a business or technical journal, this may be a good way to go.

By the way, another good organizing device is “lifecycle” -- an idea the authors actually mention in the fifth paragraph, but don’t develop.

But what really should get your attention is the motive behind the article -- which is to encourage and assist IT professionals to engage senior managers. The article starts out by saying that many CEOs and CIOs question the need for an EA. That’s an amazing premise, given the fact that the EA is supposed to be the combination dashboard and blueprint of the organization’s central nervous system. What could be more relevant to senior managers? Why don’t most CEOs already know that? The authors blame bad communications and in particular poorly framed concepts.

The article’s seven essential elements cover everything from EA guiding principles, to EA blueprints, to EA management, to EA metrics -- all good fundamental management stuff. (In fact, replace “EA” with almost any IT term – like, say, “infosec” or “virtual supply chain” or “content management” and you have an outline for another very good article on a different topic.) But focusing too much on the mechanics risks missing the heart of the message: EA is not something you do first and sell to the CEO second. It is always a work in progress that you do in partnership with the CEO. Politically, this makes sense because that would give the CEO some ownership.

IT loves to talk about silos. I think the problem getting EA buy-in is that the CEO is in one silo and IT is in another. Until that ceases to be true, even a supposedly joint mission as important as EA will founder.